The Lord alone knows where this shall lead to. Well, on second thoughts, given that this has to do with Gokhale, I doubt He has much of a clue either.
But the attempt is to chronicle the madness that is Gokhale. How does one go about attempting to recreate the magic that is Gokhale, online, is a little puzzling to me too. But in my defense, the primary reason I'm doing this is because the other option is to study for the upcoming Trix Tut. And since I expect readers of this blog to empathise with my choice, I expect them to be intelligent enough to figure out that postings on this blog will coincide with the Tuts schedule at the Insti.
Well to come back to the point at hand... This blog describes the current ongoings at the Insti. This first post shall merely lay down the broad rules that shall be followed. You know how it is... If it's anything to do with Gokhale, there has to be a set of rules. Give me a week and we'll have a committee about this at the Insti. Another week should see the first resignation. Ceteris Paribus, naturally.
No gossip about the current batch. I mean, if a Gokhaleite from the batch of '86 were to read that, for example, the party in Milind's room the other day had a lot of the guys in the hostel really really pissed off, would his life change? Apart from wishing that he was there at the party that is. You see? That's why this blog shall (hopefully!) not disseminate information about who's going out with whom, and who made out with whom at the last cycling party. For those who came in late, no, cycling is not literally pedalling across the streets of Pune. Christ, no! It's just boozing.
Well, actually, that's the only rule I can think of right now. As and when I develop a love for bureaucracy, I shall add more to the list.
Everybody's welcome out here, naturally. Ex-Gokhaleites get the warmest welcome, au naturel, as do those fortunate ones who pursue their postgraduate degrees at the time of writing. That's the focus group, but if you're one of those unfortunate many who have not experienced the joy that is Gokhale, fret not, and jump right in. And if you belong to the fairer sex, please! Keep jumping.
Since this is the first effort in this direction, we'll take it slow and easy. A little bit of info about the Institute, it's current rules, people who matter in Gokhale and so on and so forth.
The Insti received a massive face-lift last year, being roused from it's dogmatic slumbers by Prof. Sinha, who went about the Insti, magic wand in hand, turning it from a rustic, extremely idyllic setting into a thing of some pretty impressive beauty.
I'm too lazy to put up pictures of the done-up campus here right now, so I don't know, Google us if you choose to not believe whats written here. A little aside in that regard... one of the plus points of that beautification drive was that the ground floor of the Boy's hostel got smooth shiny flooring. (Yes, we have a separate hostel for the girls now. If you didn't know that... well, you're kind of old now, aren't you?) Yeah, about the floor... not that it's all that pretty to look at, but if you sit on your haunches on that floor, hands extended, some guy can grab them and pull you all across the corridor, running all the way. Pretty cool fun. And naturally, we have contests about who can run the fastest. And naturally they happen one day before some Tut or the other. And yes, naturally, none of the participants are sober.
Apart from the shiny floor, the biggest news to hit us this year (brace yourselves, old-timers. "Old Timers" being defined as anybody who passed out earlier than 2005) was that Mama was finally thrown out of the Mess. Yes, it's true.
He's been replaced by a guy called Joshi, who's admittedly, doing a fine job of running the mess. Far fewer complaints now, and the quality of the food has improved noticeably. You still need both hands to break the chapati, but you can do without the little finger on the left hand. And he (Joshi, that is) has promised that it'll only get better.
People who matter at Gokhale? Well, we have Hostel Secretaries, Mess Secretaries, Class Representatives, Film Club Committees, Placement Coordinators (round of applause, please), Library Secretaries... and yeah, a couple of dozen more. Expect these guys to feature prominently out here in the days to come.
Well, that should give you a flavour of what to expect out here. Stuff like this, sometimes maybe in greater detail, and certainly with many embellishments. Like for example, that day when we decided to throw, from the first floor of the Boy's Hostel, an iron bedstead onto the groundfloor. I can see myself writing a post about something like that. That's what this is about, then... life at Gokhale.
P.S. Oh, why did we throw that bedstead down? It seemed like a good idea at the time. Because.